Barbara Boxer Thanks The Dept Of Transportation

I originally planned to entitle this post "Hey, Nancy, can I borrow some of your botox?" But I thought better of it. Instead, I decided I should stick to the subject instead of taking the obvious cheap shot. Senator Boxer still hasn't gotten the word that I left the Democratic Party in 1994, and left San Francisco in June of this year, so she keeps sending me her "accomplishments" updates.

The language of her latest missive uses the language becoming so common for justifying more government spending: "Last week the U. S. Department of Transportation announced new investments in California mass transit that will create jobs, reduce commute times, and improve air quality." Well, it will create a few more public employee/union jobs. Which of course will mean fare increases, and likely no improvement in service.

"DOT will provide nearly $19 million for four California regional bus services, including more than $6.8 million for the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency's Phelan Loop Bus Facility Project." Another greenie-weenie boondoggle. My first question is "where did DOT get the $19 million it is so generously providing the agencies?" The taxpayers, perhaps? And those of you who have read my San Francisco Diary for any length of time know my opinion (and the facts) of the horrendous failure that is MUNI.

"Building the Phelan Loop Bus Facility paves the way for a landscaped open space, new retail space, and new affordable housing--all next to public transportation and within walking distance of both a major transit hub and San Francisco City College." Oh, brother (or sister, as the case may be)! "Paves the way" is another way of saying the City will need more money for a landscaping project which probably will never occur and which is not funded by the "gift" from DOT. San Francisco keeps raising taxes, adding city "inspectors" and increasing payroll taxes doing every possible hostile act toward businesses. Who, exactly, is going to fill this new retail space? Small businesses are beating a hasty retreat to points north, south and east. They'd head west, too, except they'd end up in the ocean.

Ah, and "affordable housing." That's liberal-speak for crappy ticky-tacky housing which will be occupied by people who can't afford the affordable, and so will be getting subsidies from the taxpayers either in the form of direct assistance or higher property taxes on "unaffordable housing" from those rotten rich folks. But at least it will be close to San Francisco City College. That's the junior college for illiterates too dull to get into the big leftist schools like San Francisco State or Berkeley. Their most popular course is "Marx for Dummies."

"The upgraded transit infrastructure will be a key component of a MUNI transit system that is expected to grow from today's 700,000 weekday boardings to more than a million weekday boardings by 2030." Two independent studies have shown that those ridership figures are pure hokum. And like so many Democrat schemes, the plan counts the same riders twice. First, they're counted as future riders on the new system. Then they're counted by routes which are already covered by other transportation lines. Think of it this way. I used to take the 19 bus or the 27 bus to get to work, depending on which one showed up first. I was still only one rider who used two lines. But MUNI and Boxer would count me as two riders if the 19 were a new line while the 27 was the old line.

"I am so pleased that the Department of Transportation has funded this vital project." No, Babs, they took the taxpayers' money in order to mis-spend it again. The DOT has absolutely no "funds" that they didn't first take from us. And now, back to the Democrat spin on another spending (stimulus?) project. "This investment will create jobs in construction, transit, and nearby retail; reduce commute times for both buses and private automobiles; and improve air quality by helping get more people out of their cars and onto an improved transit system."

I plan to keep Boxer in the dark, since she has so far missed my defection from the ranks of the liberal underclass. It will act as a regular reminder of why I finally gave up and left the city that I had loved for so many years. San Franciscans have been hearing this "mass transit/public transportation" garbage for so many years that nobody even listens anymore. First: The new system. Second: The breakdown of the new system. Third: The shocking cost overruns in building then fixing the new system. Fourth: The news that new ridership was only a small proportion of the number predicted. Fifth: The buses start running later and later by the day. Sixth: The buses become filthy, ridership is comprised largely of homeless people, fare-jumpers and the occasional violent thugs. Seventh: MUNI decides the buses can be cleaned up, the dangerous and dirty conditions corrected, and the coaches made to run on time if only the citizens will just vote for another fare increase. Repeat until done.